


It's Cold Outside

by rainingover



Category: K-pop, Winner (Band)
Genre: Group Verse, M/M, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:39:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5448593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainingover/pseuds/rainingover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jinwoo persuades Seunghoon to go on a Winter vacation to the mountains when they get three days off from schedules.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Cold Outside

**Author's Note:**

> Written for & originally posted at the Winderland Winner Advent Fic Fest '15.

It's on a cold morning at the start of December that they're given the date of the gap in their schedules and told that they have three precious days in January to spend however they wish.  
  
Seunghoon's stomach sinks a little when he works out the dates in his head. Says, "My family are away on vacation that week," and notices the way that Jinwoo glances over in his direction and worries his bottom lip between his teeth.  
  
Mino is already texting his mother. He looks up from his phone, says, "Will you be staying here at the dorm, then?"  
  
"Guess so." Seunghoon would like to have time at home as much as the rest of the group, but he knows that his family can't plan their own lives around him. And, anyway, three days to himself are always welcome. "I don't mind." He smiles to try to emphasise that he really doesn't, makes sure Jinwoo sees.  
  
Jinwoo does see, but he fusses anyway. "We can't just leave you here all on your own."  
  
"I'm only four months younger than you, I can definitely stay at the dorm on my own," Seunghoon points out with a laugh.  
  
Jinwoo just pouts in return.  
  
\--  
  
It's a week later when Jinwoo shakes Seunghoon's arm as he walks past him in the kitchen and says, "Guess what, Hoon-ah! I'm so forgetful. I've just remembered that I can't go home that weekend either."  
  
He makes a show of sighing, mentions an Aunt his parents have to visit who has no spare room for him to stay. "So, it looks like you won't be on your own after all."  
  
Seunghoon can't decide whether this is the worst made up excuse ever, or just a really odd delivery of the truth. Hopes it's the latter. If anyone should take their chance to visit home, if anyone has spent the most time far away from his family, it's Jinwoo.  
  
"Are you sure your Aunt can't make space?"  
  
He watches for clues in Jinwoo's reaction, but Jinwoo simply shakes his head and goes back to pouring cat food into a bowl happily.  
  
\--  
  
It's less than two days after this that Jinwoo pushes a brochure under Seunghoon's nose. "What do you think? Should we do it?"  
  
"Should we do what?"  
  
"Go to the mountains." Jinwoo moves the brochure away from Seunghoon's face and back onto his lap. "This resort has cabins available and... I mean, I suppose we  _could_  just stay in the dorm, but... The others are going to be visiting their families and when we aren't all here it doesn't feel like home, you know?"  
  
Seunghoon smiles. It's pretty damn adorable, the way that Jinwoo's brows furrow when he refers to the empty dorm. The way he calls it home, but only if they're all there.  
  
"Remind me again why you're not going to see your parents?"  
  
"I told you, my parents already have something planned for that weekend. Anyway, it's no big deal. We'll get more time off soon," He says, and goes back to pawing over the glossy photos of log cabins and perfect, untouched snow.  
  
\--  
  
It  _is_ a big deal, though, and Seunghoon is sure that Jinwoo knows it.  
  
Three days off after New Year will always be big deal. Three days of home-cooked food, of family and friends, of no staff keeping an eye on your every move, no feelings of guilt when you leave the rehearsal room without perfecting the latest choreography.  
  
It's a big deal, especially because they  _won't_  get more vacation soon. With their comeback just around the corner they probably won't get to visit home again for an unimaginable amount of time. Jinwoo definitely knows it, and yet here is, eyes bright and cheerful as he talks about snowmen and hot chocolate and sighs at the thought of hot stone massages. "It's a shame my family are busy, but this could be fun..."  
  
Seunghoon has his suspicions that Jinwoo's family aren't busy at all, but he isn't going to call Jinwoo a liar, so he allows Jinwoo to push the brochure at him, leafs through it as Jinwoo watches, and has to admit to himself that it would be a pretty damn perfect way to spend three days off  
.  
Says, "Maybe," and hands it back.  
  
\--  
  
"Just think about it -- skiing, hiking, really good wine." Jinwoo seems to be carrying the brochure  _everywhere_  now.  
  
It's only two weeks until their planned vacation time and Jinwoo is relentless about not staying at the dorm. "We can snowboard.  _Proper_ snowboarding; the mountains are incredible round there." He says this as if he has done a lot of research, which he probably has.  
  
"Aren't you going to get all competitive if we go snowboarding?" Seunghoon asks.  
  
Jinwoo ponders this. "Yes, probably."  
  
The way that he admits it is so earnest that Seunghoon has to smile, relenting in his stubbornness."Okay, okay -- we should go."  
  
Jinwoo breaks into a grin, his eyes sparkling in that way that Seunghoon can hardly believe is human. "I'll book it today," He says. "Shall we go all out -- get one of the suites with a hot tub?"  
  
"I don't know, are we spending  _all_ of our wages on one weekend, or...?"  
  
Jinwoo opens his mouth, flicks through the brochure to the pricing page. "Maybe no hot tub," he decides after a quick glance at the figures. "Anyway, why would we want a hot tub? They only come in the rooms with King sized beds that are clearly aimed at couples." He lets out an awkward laugh.  
  
"I can't believe you're trying to take to me to a resort with a hot tub and a King sized bed," Seunghoon teases. "Should I be worried about your intentions?"  
  
"I'm not! I didn't-- ah shut up." Jinwoo pushes at Seunghoon's knee. "You're insufferable."  
  
"Thankyou."  
  
"That isn't a compliment," Jinwoo replies, but he's already pulling out his cell phone to call and book the resort.  
  
\--  
  
The New Year arrives with haste, and with it their three day vacation.  
  
As the dorm begins to empty, Jinwoo makes their manager promise to make sure the remaining pets are treated like kings and queens whilst they're gone, which, in fairness, he agrees to.  
  
They decide between them that Seunghoon will drive and Jinwoo will navigate, which, Seunghoon realises in retrospect was probably not a great choice. This is partially because Jinwoo falls asleep after only twenty minutes on the road, his head bobbing against the window next to him every time Seunghoon drives round even the slightest of bends.  
  
Seunghoon tries to concentrate solely on driving, until he can't stand worrying about Jinwoo knocking himself out any longer, and pulls over to shove his jacket between Jinwoo's head and the glass.  
  
He feels immediately more relaxed, turns off the radio so Jinwoo can sleep in peace, and decides he's infinitely glad that he was persuaded to go along with Jinwoo's elaborate winter plan. It feels good to be out on the road, in the driver's seat, rather than in the back of a blacked out van, being shuttled between the dorm and the company building.  
  
It feels good to be on the road, just he and Jinwoo.  
  
When Jinwoo wakes up two hours later, it's snowing and from what he can tell (and he can't tell much, he admits, as he pokes at his phone and wills it to re-gain signal), they should actually be quite near the resort.  
  
"Well, the address you told me to put in the GPS should only be about--" Seunghoon checks the car dashboard, "-- twelve minutes away."  
  
Twelve minutes later the GPS re-routes, the snow continues to fall and Jinwoo is worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. "Why isn't it here?"  
  
"Are you sure you gave me the correct address?"  
  
"I was sure, but now..." Jinwoo is looking down at his phone and up at the road periodically, his brow furrowing more and more with each flicker of his eyes, until Seunghoon can't help but laugh.  
  
"Are you trying to cosplay Taehyunnie?" He sneaks glances at Jinwoo's face in between looking out for road signs.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Your eyebrows-- Never mind." Seunghoon goes back to checking the road. There haven't been any signs for miles. "We're lost, aren't we? We should just admit it."  
  
"We're not lost, we just can't find the resort."  
  
Seunghoon doesn't bother to point out that that is the same thing. Jinwoo may look semi ridiculous right now, but he also looks also incredibly cute. And it's unfair, since he still looks handsome as hell, even with two scarves on and a nose red with cold peeking out from between them.  
  
The voice on the GPS cheerfully announces that they have reached their destination, but there isn't a luxury log cabin in sight. Or any cabin. Just road, and snow, and darkness.  
  
"How old was the brochure you had?" Seunghoon asks.  
  
"New! It was new!" Jinwoo is worrying his lip between his teeth again. "I think. Maybe it's moved..."  
  
"The whole resort,  _set into the mountains_ , has moved?"  
  
"Or, maybe your GPS is broken." Jinwoo sniffs.  
  
"My GPS is fine. But it's getting hard to drive, the snow is getting heavier, and it's not exactly getting any lighter out here," Seunghoon points out. "We're going to have to just- - just find somewhere else to sleep."  
  
"No! No, we can find it," Jinwoo looks like he might cry, and Seunghoon can practically see Jinwoo's carefully deliberated plans of hot chocolate and open fires being torn apart in his mind. "We haven't got time to be lost."  
  
"There's  _nothing_  here." Seunghoon says it gently. "Plus, we've had no phone signal for thirty minutes, and you look cold, I think your lips are going blue. We'll have to stop soon."  
  
Jinwoo reaches up to touch his face. "Okay. We're going to have to just stop at the next place we see. If we see anywhere." He pauses. "I never imagined dying in the snow."  
  
"We aren't going to die. I'm going to take a left here and-- oh, look!" He points at a blur of yellow light in the distance. "I think I see lights!"  
  
Jinwoo bites his lip, eyebrows still furrowed up. "People often see lights before they die, Hoon-ah..."  
  
Seunghoon laughs. "The GPS must just be a little off. We're going to be eating delicious hot food and drinking red wine in less than thirty minutes, you'll see."  
  
\--  
  
Seunghoon is wrong, because thirty minutes later, they're not drinking red wine.  
  
They don't have frostbite, so that's  _something_ , but there isn't any wine, or any hot food, delicious or otherwise.  
  
When they get closer to the lights, it becomes obvious that they aren't driving towards a luxury resort. Instead, set back from the road, is a motel with one truck parked in the snow outside. The sign over the door has letters missing and Seunghoon is ninety nine percent sure there are no hot tubs inside.  
  
"I don't think this is it." Jinwoo hesitates as Seunghoon unbuckles his seatbelt. "I mean, it's  _definitely_  not it."  
  
"We don't really have a choice." Seunghoon turns off the ignition. "I'm sure it's nicer inside than it looks."  
  
But, as it turns out, Seunghoon is wrong again.  
  
\--  
  
They shuffle in through the door hopefully, ring the bell at the reception desk and wait for what seems like forever to be met by an elderly man who looks at them as if they're joking when they ask if there are any rooms for the night.  
  
"We're lost," Jinwoo offers, but the man doesn't respond to this. Instead, he grunts and disappears through a swing door behind the reception desk.  
  
"Do you think he's coming back?" Jinwoo unravels himself from one of his scarves.  
  
"I hope so," Seunghoon says, reaches out to help.  
  
"At least we have a roof over our heads." Jinwoo tries to smile as his head emerges from a mass of wool.  
  
"We had a roof over our heads a few hours ago at the dorm." Seunghoon takes the scarf from Jinwoo and places it on top of their luggage.  
  
"I know. Sorry I made you come on vacation." Jinwoo frowns.  
  
"I'm only joking. I'm having a good time, really."  
  
"No you're not."  
  
Seunghoon tilts his head. "Of course I am," He says. "I'm with you aren't I?"  
  
Before Jinwoo can respond, the old man re-appears with a set of keys. Says, "Room thirteen. Don't disturb the other guests."  
  
"Um-- we won't, thank-you." Seunghoon can hardly believe there are any other people here. The only truck outside looks like it's been parked there since winter began, and maybe not even the latest Winter.  
  
Jinwoo clears his throat. "Excuse me. Is there a restaurant? Room service?"  
  
The man shakes his head.  
  
"A bar?" Jinwoo tries again.  
  
"Just room thirteen," the man repeats. "Don't disturb the other guests."  
  
And that is where the conversation ends.  
  
\--  
  
It takes four tries to get the key to work in the door. The lock is stiff, and Seunghoon wonders when the room was last occupied.  
  
The room smells of damp, and the only bed doesn't even seem to be the size of a small double.  
  
"I can't believe there is no food." Seunghoon gingerly sits down at the edge of the bed. "What sort of motel has no food?"  
  
"I saw a vending machine down the hall." Jinwoo tries a smile out. He still looks cold, but at least not as cold as he had done in the car, which is the one thing that's making Seunghoon glad they stopped here. "At least, I think that's what is was meant to be. It was-- dusty."  
  
Jinwoo steps into the hall and returns with four candy bars and a can of diet soda.  
  
"Dinner is served." He smiles apologetically as he spreads their chocolate based feast out over the bed.  
  
"Better than nothing," Seunghoon looks down at dinner. "Which two do you want?"  
  
"You can choose. Since you didn't get much choice on whether to come on vacation with me and all... Sorry about that." He pushes the chocolate bars towards Seunghoon, is worrying his lip between his teeth again.  
  
Seunghoon reaches out, past the ancient looking snacks, stills Jinwoo's hand with his own. "I had a choice," he says. "If there is ever a choice of hanging out with you or not-- you know I'd always choose the first opinion, right?"  
  
Jinwoo punches him on the arm, and says, "Shut up," a combination which Seunghoon knows actually means,  _thankyou_ , so he doesn't mind.  
  
"So, if I get to choose what to eat, I'm going to go for the steak," he says and picks up one of the chocolate bars.  
  
Jinwoo grins as he picks up another. "Good choice."  
  
They eat their first bar greedily, too fast. Smile guiltily and then draw out the second bar. Talk between mouthfuls, lament their lack of phone signal, the lack of road signs, the fact that they managed to get lost.  
  
"Dessert," Seunghoon quips, "Tastes suspiciously like the steak we had for our main course."  
  
At least it makes Jinwoo laugh.  
  
\--  
  
After their make-shift dinner at their make-shift dinner table, they sit in silence and stare at their phones, willing them to pick up signal so they can at least figure out where they went wrong on their journey.  
  
Jinwoo stands beside the tiny, dirty window, curtains too short to fit the frame, and waves his phone near the glass. It obviously doesn't help, because his shoulders deflate. "I think we're going to have to wait until we've driven further down the mountain to get signal again."  
  
He moves the threadbare curtain away, stares out of the window for a while. He wraps his arms around his body, shivers and murmers, distractedly, "The snow is getting even heavier."  
  
Seunghoon watches. "Are you warmer yet?"  
  
"Yes." Jinwoo smiles as he turns around, but his ears and the tip of his nose are still pink, so he's clearly lying.  
  
"Come here." Seunghoon pats the space on the bed next to him. "Standing next to the window isn't going to help."  
  
Jinwoo crawls over to Seunghoon's side and sighs. "We could really do with a real log fire right now."  
  
Seunghoon nods. "Or a hot tub."  
  
"When we find the resort tomorrow... When we get there -- I'm upgrading us to a deluxe cabin." Jinwoo tucks his legs under the blanket. It's thin, and scratchy, and Seunghoon is infinitely glad that the lamp in the corner is too dim for him to see how grey the once-white sheets on the bed probably are. "I don't care if we look like a couple."  
  
"What about if  _I_ care if we look like a couple?" Seunghoon asks as he contemplates whether to risk certain contamination from goodness knows what by actually getting under the blanket. He's always prided his cleanliness and he doesn't want to think about when the sheets were last washed.  
  
"Would you?" Jinwoo looks up at him.  
  
"No," Seunghoon admits, gives in to the lure of warmth and pulls the blanket up over them both.  
  
\--  
  
It's impossible to truly get warm, to truly get comfortable, but they try nonetheless. Jinwoo gets out of the bed and returns wearing one of his scarves. He offers Seunghoon his other one, as he says, "I can tell you're cold too. Put it on."  
  
Seunghoon laughs as he takes it and says, "Ah, Jinwoo, how did we end up here?" as he wraps it around his neck.  
  
It's a rhetorical question, but Jinwoo replies, "You were the one driving," and reaches across to check that Seunghoon's scarf is tucked in properly.  
  
"I distinctly remember you saying you'd help navigate... But then you fell asleep."  
  
"You could have woken me up." Jinwoo points out.  
  
"You looked too cute," Seunghoon shrugs.  
  
Jinwoo punches him on the arm, mumbles, "shut up," and rests his head against Seunghoon's shoulder.  
  
"Happy Winter vacation, Hoonie. I'm glad we decided to do this." Jinwoo whispers into the darkness sometime later, and he doesn't even sound that sarcastic.  
  
Seunghoon squeezes his hand in response.  
  
\--  
  
Seunghoon wakes up to light peeking in under the too-short curtains and works at unravelling the scarf from around his face, where it has managed to work its way to in the night.  
  
Jinwoo is curled up against his side, his own scarf tucked neatly underneath his chin, and Seunghoon thinks that this could almost be relaxing, if not for the fact that he's in a bed that smells of moth balls, with no phone signal or any idea of where they should be, with only the prospect of out of date chocolate bars for breakfast.  
  
If he could just block all of those things out, and just concentrate on being warm, on  _Jinwoo_  being warm, it could be relaxing. Pleasant even. It always is with Jinwoo, he decides.  
  
Jinwoo wakes up not long after, peels himself from Seunghoon's side and stretches. Says, "Is this how you imagined spending your first morning on vacation?"  
  
"What? In bed with you? Or, having to wear a scarf in bed to keep warm in what could possibly be the creepiest, dustiest motel in Korea?"  
  
"Well, the first one is part of everyone's dream vacation, surely." Jinwoo laughs. Says, "I'm so glad I packed the extra scarf. It looks good with your morning hair, by the way."  
  
Seunghoon instinctively smoothes down his hair. "Shall we get back on the road as soon as we can? Drive down the mountain and get some signal? You can call the resort and check that we aren't in completely the wrong place."  
  
He contemplates showering, never goes a morning without one. But, as grimy as the bedroom looked in the dark, he realises that the bathroom looks a hundred times worse in the daylight.  
  
Instead, he vows to take the longest shower  _ever_  as soon as they find the resort. He tells Jinwoo this, who nods approvingly and says, "They have luxury products in all of the bathrooms, and spa showers with waterfall shower-heads, and massage jets and  _everything_ ," as if he's learnt the description of every aspect of the resort off by heart.  
  
He probably has, the amount of time he'd spent carrying around the brochure, Seunghoon decides.  
  
They are greeted at the reception by the same man from the night before. Seunghoon tries small-talk as they hand over their keys. Asks, "Have any of the other guests checked out yet this morning?"  
  
The man just shakes his head. Dull eyes, no smile.  
  
Seunghoon smiles back at him anyway, even though he's become utterly convinced that there can't be any other guests in the place. Manners don't cost a penny, even if shabby hotel rooms with brown running water and creepy corridors do.  
  
\--  
  
They drive down the mountain for an embarrassingly short amount of time before they find signal, and an even more embarrassingly short amount of time before signs for the resort appear.  
  
"I can't believe we were this close the whole time." Seunghoon shakes his head as they take a right, and then a left, just as the signs tell them to.  
  
When they pull into the resort, it looks exactly like the brochure photos. Seunghoon sneaks a glance at Jinwoo's face as they drive up to the main building, his eyes are bright, cheeks rosy.  
  
The receptionist who greets them is younger, more beautiful and a million times more joyful than the one they'd seen earlier that morning. She asks them if it's a special occasion as she takes their details, to which Jinwoo turns to Sunghoon and points out that, "It  _is_  almost your birthday."  
  
The receptionist upgrades them to a deluxe suite on the spot. Maybe it's something to do with their shabby we-slept-in-scarves-and-haven't-showered-yet charm, but probably more to do with the fact that people with free upgrades are often inclined to spend more on other extras, especially around special occasions.  
  
When they get into the room, Seunghoon realises that it's one of the ones with a hot tub and a King Sized bed.  
  
"Did you plan this after all?" He laughs, but Jinwoo is already gushing over the view at their window.  
  
\--  
  
They drink red wine and eat real, non-chocolate-bar steaks in the restaurant, as Jinwoo checks the ski-lift opening times.  
  
"We need to fit in skiing and maybe snowboarding. And a hike. They do organised snow-shoeing up near the blue room at three PM. Oh, and I wanted to fit in a massage." He counts time on his fingers. "Do you think we can fit that all in tomorrow?"  
  
Seunghoon watches as Jinwoo counts up more hours than exist in daylight. "Probably not, but... I guess we could always come back again next year."  
  
"You mean you would come away with me again? Even though I put the wrong address into the GPS?" A sheepish smile spreads across his face. "Sorry about that."  
  
"I knew it!" Seunghoon grins. "But, yes. Definitely."  
  
Jinwoo smiles back. "Happy Winter vacation," He says, and he doesn't sound sarcastic at all.


End file.
